Head coach Brendon McCullum is the one who usually brings bad or positive news to the England players, not captain Ben Stokes.
Even for a brilliant man-manager such as McCullum, this had to have been the hardest. to inform England’s all-time greatest fast bowler, James Anderson, that it’s time to go on by looking him in the eye.
A deadly wound sustained while playing golf, though not nearly as tragic as Old Yeller or Lenny in Of Mice and Men. Should the Stokes-McCullum period be viewed as a grand sports drama culminating in Australia, then a cherished figure has recently been eliminated from the narrative. Dumbledore has passed away.
Anderson should have received a personal explanation from McCullum, even if it meant traveling over 11,000 miles from his home. Having completed the circle of the skipper bringing Anderson in from the cold when he took over two years ago, Stokes would have been fully aware.
